A great week and an even better weekend

This week has gone from good to great. Nick started his internship officially last Monday. He was able to sit in on the church's production meeting and he stood behind the soundboard on Wednesday as they were video taping a class being held. I was able to sit in on the class they were taping and it's so awesome! Mark Scott (academic dean at OCC) is hosting his Life of Christ class at the church for adults. I sat with Rachel Bond and the pastor's wife, Betsy and just soaked up everything Mark was shooting at us like a sponge. It's funny how within just a short year of being out of school, my value on education (both biblical and academic) has changed so much. I must have taken for granted the wealth of knowledge my teachers possessed when I was in school. In fall 2005, Nick and I actually had a class that Mark Scott offered on the book of Mark. I don't think I paid near as much attention to it as I am with this Life of Christ class! In that regard, maybe it's a good thing that I'll be going back to school this next year--- since I now take so much more of it to heart!

This past Wednesday Nick turned 23. Since we didn't plan on celebrating it until the weekend, I had to remind myself that it was, in fact, his birthday! He got a lot of sweet cards in the mail from family (along with several checks and an awesome really thick, soft Izod bathrobe from my grandparents). Yesterday and today we had his parents, Bill & Julie down with us to celebrate and even though it was his birthday, we both were spoiled beyond belief. We had planned on doing some car maintenance this weekend and as part of his birthday gift, they offered to pay for it. So we got new tires, brakes/breakpads, and a new windshield wiper installed. WOW! Talk about a nice birthday present that we both appreciated! On Friday night, they provided supper, too. They brought rib-eye steaks, twice-baked potatoes, cranberry-nut salad, and a cake that Nick's Aunt Robin (the professional cake caterer in KC who made our wedding cake) made for him. It was just too cute for words- it had lime green and royal blue swirlies (a real descriptive word for you, but the best I can come up with!). Just really cool! We finished the night off with War of the Worlds, which was Nick's choice since neither of his parents had seen it. I would not suggest going to bed with that being the last thing on your mind!!!! Thankfully, I did not have nightmares (I'm a wimp and usually do when I watch tense/scary movies)!!!

This morning, we all went over to the college to play raquetball and workout in the gym. Nick and Bill played for a couple hours and I went back and forth between walking in the gymnasium with Julie and playing a few rounds with Nick in the courts. We all had a blast and were shocked when we realized we'd been there for over three hours! We headed back to our place to eat chicken salad sandwhiches, potatoes chips, and grapes (also provided by the in-laws, God bless them!!!) and we watched Defending Your Life. If you haven't seen it yet, chances are Nick will ask you to watch it with him. It's kind of like a "rights of passage" thing--- if you've been to our house more than a couple times, somewhere along the lines he'll make you watch it because it's his favorite movie. It's just hilarious that he likes it so much because it's an old Albert Brooks movie with terrible theology about dying and going on trial for your life and it's just terribly corny. But anyways...... after that, we went out to Best Buy so Bill & Julie could let Nick get his big surprise present- a Sony 8 mepepixel digital camera. They happened to have it in stock at our Joplin store, but as we looked around and spoke with some sales associates, Nick felt like holding off on getting such an expensive gift until he'd done a little more research on cameras (plus we both saw one that was more of a professional grade that we felt like investing in). His parents gave him a check for what the Sony one would have cost and we'll end up saving to add to it to get a Canon Rebel 10mp SLR/Digital Camera.

This evening, we all went out to the Red Onion (I guess for Nick's second birthday dinner?!). Nick got the grilled chicken alfredo and I got the tortellini with smoked chicken and pesto cream. It was insanely good and we immediately put half of our portions in to-go boxes (they give such enormous portions), so it will make a really yummy lunch for tomorrow after church. It's funny, I've been planning all along a big birthday dinner for just the two of us (and Michael) and we just haven't gotten around to it yet, so he'll have yet another birthday dinner later next week! I bought supplies to make taco soup (which is like chili, only you use taco seasoning instead of chili seasoning and you add a can of corn, then serve with Fritos and cheese on top). And Nick chose a Hershey's chocolate peppermint-cream-filled roll up cake with a chocolate glaze and crushed peppermint sticks on top. There is no doubt the birthday boy will be well fed this week (not to mention, talk about an amazing stretched out birthday celebration!).

Before Bill & Julie left this evening, we did some discussing on our housing situation. We will most likely be putting our home up on the market sometime in late February/early March with a move in date of June 1. This is, of course, on the condition that Nick's able to get a job elsewhere. Earlier this week, Nick was measured for his cape and gown. Between both housing and getting graduation things finalized it's really starting to feel official that we'll be entering into a new season of life soon! Please keep Nick in your prayers as he's trying to plug away at his school work and also, that he will able to find a ministry position that is a good fit for both the church and us upon graduation.